Prepoo – Preparing your hair prior to shampooing. You do this by adding a moisturizing conditioner or natural oils into the hair . You can do this overnight or 30-40mins before you shampoo. This helps keep the moisture in your hair after you shampoo or clarify. Prepooing helps keep that moisture in.

Cowashing - Washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. This helps to put moisture back in the hair without stripping the hair of its natural oils.

Baggying – Putting on your moisturizer and then applying a plastic bag over the hair to trap the moisture in. You can either baggy your ends with a small sandwhich bag or you can full head baggy with a plastic shower cap. This is very helpful treatment for those with dry damaged hair and dry ends. Check out my post on The Truth About Baggying.

Deep conditioning – Deep conditioning is a nice treat for those with chemical relaxers, colored, dry, brittle, damaged hair. Deep conditioning with a conditioner specifically forumulated for conditions similar to the ones already listed will help revive dull lifeless hair thus giving it more strength, elasticity, moisture, softness, and shine. It is a really good way of replenishing lost moisture leaving it less prone to breakage and unmanagability. It's good to deep condition at least 1x per week.

Moisturizing – Applying a moisture based product to dry hair without washing it out. You can use a water-based or cream based moisturizer 1-2x per day. This helps to prevent breakage and increase elasticity in the hair.

Sealing – Using a natural oil to lock in the moisture after you've moisturized the hair i.e. Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil. By using an oil over the moisturizer will allow your hair to stay moisturized longer.

Leave-in Conditioner – A quick way of adding moisture back into the hair after shampooing/conditioning. It helps to detangle the hair leaving it soft and managable. Most leave-ins provide thermal protection for styling afterwards.

Braid-Out – Braiding your hair in sections while hair is still damp after deep conditioning/cowashing. Air dry the braids. Once dry,unravel the braids and style. You can wear this style up to a week without touch ups.

Stretching – Prolonging the time between relaxers. Instead of relaxing at 6 wks, relax every 8, 10, 12 wks.

STRAIGHT HAIR – Straight hair is classified as a 1. There is absolutely no curl pattern in the hair. It is completely straight. Straight hair is very sleek and shiny because there is no curl pattern, which allows the light to reflect off of the hair giving it a shiny finish. Some straight hair that appears dull is usually because it is damaged. Proper care is always necessary if you want beautiful healthy hair.

WAVY HAIR – Wavy hair is classified as a 2. Type 2 hair can be categorized as 2A/2B or 2C. Basically, 2A hair is fine, while 2B hair is medium. 2C hair is thick and coarse with a frizzier look. If you have type 2 hair, you have a wide variety of styles available to you. You can straighten the hair for a sleek look, or add tighter curls for a different look. The versatility can make the hairs texture look totally different. This hair type has a natural “S” curl pattern as it hangs.

MEDIUM CURLY HAIR – Type 3 hair has a tighter curl pattern. It can be categorized at 3A/3B and 3C hair. 3A hair types have a looser curl pattern, while type 3B hair has a tighter curl pattern and type 3C hair has a tightly curly look and may look slightly kinky. This type of hair has a lot of body and can be styled in many different styles. When wet, type 3 hair easily absorbs the water and shrinks quite a bit. But it is not as shiny as straight hair because the hair cannot reflect the light as easily. Type 3 hair is very springy. If you pull on it, it bounces back into its original curly state. This type of hair can sometimes be a challenge to straighten, especially 3C hair. However, if you blow-dry and use a hot comb or straightener the hair will have a smoother sleeker finish.

KINKY COILY HAIR – Tightly coiled type 4 hair is a lot kinkier than the type 2 and 3 hair types. Although this hair type is much coarser and appears thicker than other curly hair, it is actually quite fine. Type 4A hair has an “S” pattern to it, while type 4B/C hair is more wiry with a zig-zag pattern. Type 4 hair is hard to grow since it has fewer cuticle layers than the other hair types. Once brushed or combed it’s common for hair to break, leaving it shorter and easily susceptible to damage. (Note: Never brush dry curly hair as this creates frizz and can lead to breakage). An easy way to rid yourself of this damage is through proper conditioning, hot oil treatments and not putting tension on the hair daily with pony tails or styles that pull on the hair and add tension.Type 4 hair is extremely versatile and holds well on it’s own without the aid of styling products. Some common styles of this hair type are curly fro’s, afro puffs, two-strand twists, braids, straightening, cornrows and so much more. (courtesy of BHP mbr leentora)

The letters a, b and c after the number tell you how thick the hair strand is. One would think the thicker the strand the less fragile the hair. But, actually type 4c hair can be the most fragile because of the curl pattern and the dryness of the hair. Type 4c hair needs to be moisturized regularly & treated gently.

The Cuticle - The cuticle is the thinnest layer. It is transparent and consists of overlapping scale-like cells. It protects the cortex from chemicals.

Dusting - A very light trim. Cutting only 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch. Good idea if you don't want a full blown trim.

Texlaxed/Relaxurized - Not letting the relaxer take completely to the point of being bone straight . Basically underprocessed on purpose. Gives your hair some thickness.

Shedding - Strands of hair with white bulbs on the root. Hair goes through a natural shedding period, so if you're taking care of your hair and it suddenly starts shedding a bit, don't be alarmed. If you are worried, try using Garlic. It helps to stop the shedding.

Breakage - Broken pieces of hair without the white bulb. This can be caused by too much moisture or protein. It can also be the cause of poor hair care.

Hair Serum - Hair serum makes the hair shiner and does not allow the hair to entangle. It protects the hair from the damages done by over exposure to sun and hair styling products.

Hair serum forms a thin protective layer on the hair strands. It returns the moisture lost due to exposure to sun, heat generated from the hair styling gadgets. It is primarily used for dry and frizzy hair, which breaks easily, or hairs that have under gone excessive chemical treatments like perming, coloring.

Relaxing Bone Straight - Allowing the relaxer to "relax" the hair to it's fullest potential, making sure the hair strands are as straight as possible.Relaxing Straight- Allowing the hair to get straight. But not bone straight.Texlaxing - Allowing the relaxer to loosen the curl pattern and make it easily managable, not necessarily straight.Texturizing - Loosening the curl pattern slightly, with no straightness at all.Over-lapping - Applying relaxer to already relaxed hair instead of just focusing on the new growth.Over-processed - Leaving the relaxer on too long, resulting in a bone straight/limp appearance.Under-processed - Waves, curls and kinks are still present in the hair after a relaxer. The relaxer did not process/penetrate the hair enough.

I wish you had done this when I first started my hair journey, but I still appreciate that you did it =)Some of those letters just make me cross eyed esp. ETA, keeps making me think of 'estimated time of arrival' and reminds me that a vacation is in order.

I wish this blog had been around in the '80s when my mother gave up on my hair, and handed it over to me! Many, many painful years of trial, error, and chopping had to follow, before I figured out a few techniques to deal with my hair. I've still got a lot to learn, and appreciate what you're doing! Keep it up :)

I HAVE BEEN ON TTHE NET FO 3 YEARS AND HAVE ONLY JUST FOUND THIS SITE OUT(it prob wa not on that long i dont know)

i came across it watching sunshynes hair regime blogs and was inspired by the beauty of her hair im a newbie all the way from england and have just started my 'hair jouney'im GLAD I CAME ACROSS THIS LIST AS I NOW UNDERSTAND WHAT THE OTHER YOUTUBERS SAYGREAT SITE, I LOVE IT

Thanks SO much for posting this list! I'm a new natural and just did my BC 3 weeks ago. I've been scouring through black hair forums and had no idea what some of those acronyms mean. So thankful you posted them all out and clear! I am so subscribing to your blog! :)

About me

For years I struggled to understand my relaxed hair. I created this blog to track my journey, set backs and progress!

Sit back and stay a while! Let’s achieve healthier hair together.

Hairlista Inc. Social Network

Hairlista Inc. is a social network designed to educate women on healthy hair care practices, skin and beauty. Join today for free! Visit: Hairlista.com

As a token of your appreciation for Hairlista Inc., please consider supporting Hairlista Inc. with a donation! All donations will aid in keeping the network free for all of its users. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated!